1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic ballast control system for a HID lamp using Zigbee, and more specifically, relates to such a control system for a HID lamp, which includes a magnetic ballast for the HID lamp that is mounted with a plurality of condensers or choke coils of different capacities, an electronic switch unit for controlling illumination according to the change of capacities of the plural condensers or choke coils, and RF transmitting/receiving means that use a Zigbee-based frequency, thereby allowing to turn on and off the HID lamp and control the illumination through wireless remote communications.
2. Background of the Related Art
An HID (high intensity discharge) lamp is a high intensity discharge lamp, in which high pressure xenon gas and metallic compounds in an arc tube are excitedly discharged and generate light. The HID lamp, such as a metal halide lamp, high pressure sodium lamp, high pressure mercury lamp, and the like, is lit by a specially designed ballast and a starter that generates instant high pressure. When the HID lamp is lit, electrons and metallic atoms in the arc tube are collided and discharged, and the metallic compounds in the arc tube emit light of a unique color. Since the xenon gas suppresses neighboring ultraviolet rays and electromagnetic waves, the HID lamp generates white light close to natural light, which is not yellow and has good color rendering.
In addition, the HID lamp does not have a filament, and tungsten electrodes for discharge are fixed at both ends inside the arc tube. Therefore, the lamp does not need to be inconveniently replaced due to breaking down of the filament, and the lifespan of the lamp is five times longer than that of a halogen lamp. The HID lamp can stably work at power about 40% lower than that of the halogen lamp, and thus in an aspect of energy saving and environmental conservation, improvement and use of the HID lamp have been spotlighted recently in the industrial lighting equipment market.
When such a HID lamp is lit, the HID lamp is driven by a ballast that applies high pressure more than discharge initiating voltage in the initial stage to start discharge. The ballast for the HID lamp can be roughly divided into a magnetic ballast and an electronic ballast. Since the magnetic ballast does not have a separate control unit, it is advantageous in that the structure is simple, the manufacturing cost is low, and the failure rate is low, but illumination thereof is difficult to control. The electronic ballast can control the illumination in steps by constructing a dimming circuit through voltage control. However, since output voltage of the electronic ballast is low, turning on the lamp is unstable, and the lifespan of the lamp is short. Further, since a large quantity of electronic components is used, the manufacturing cost is high, and the failure rate is also high. Therefore, development of a magnetic ballast that can control illumination is required.
Meanwhile, as lighting equipments are recently emphasized on the aspect of interior, a plurality and a variety of lighting equipments are used even in one space. Further, in the case of an industrial site, even in a single work place, a certain area receives a plenty of sunlight and does not need separate lighting in daytime, whereas certain areas may need 100% or more than a certain level, if not 100%, of illumination even in daytime. Accordingly, illumination of a lamp is controlled in order to save energy that is wasted due to the use of a plurality and a variety of lighting equipments, or to create specific atmosphere as needed. If such illumination control is used to control the illumination of the HID lamp, advantages of saving energy and creating needed atmosphere obtained from the illumination control are added to the advantages that the HID lamp previously has in the aspects of environment and energy, thereby greatly contributing to energy saving and improvement of environmental problems.
Therefore, some companies have developed dimming ballasts that can control illumination of a HID lamp by controlling voltage of an electronic ballast. However, since output voltage is low, there is a problem in that turning on the lamp is unstable, and the lifespan of the lamp is shortened.
In addition, since a conventional HID lamp is lit at an unnecessary time point and maintains the same brightness from early evening to midnight, power is wasted. Since the HID lamp cannot be controlled remotely, power is continuously supplied to the ballast even after the lamp is broken down. Therefore, energy is considerably wasted due to no-load loss, and high voltage sparks are generated in the vicinity of the unlit ballast on a rainy or wet day. Although only the lamp is broken down and the ballast is in a normal state, due to high pressure pulse voltage, the start circuit of the ballast that is in a normal state will also break down in the end.
In order to solve the problems, Korean Utility Model Registration No. 0385296 has contrived an apparatus that is capable of controlling illumination, which receives latitudinal and longitudinal data using a global positioning system (GPS) module, calculates sunrise and sunset times by itself using a sunrise sunset program of a microprocessor, and automatically determines on-off time of a lighting equipment. However, since GPS is used as an apparatus for controlling a lamp, the GPS is disconnected in a bad weather condition, and illumination cannot be effectively controlled. On the other hand, an apparatus proposed by Korean Utility Model Registration. No. 0415595 uses a Zigbee wireless network that consumes low power. However, the Zigbee wireless network is used only to control turning on and off of a lamp, there is a problem in that illumination of the lamp cannot be controlled.
Accordingly, what is desperately needed is development of a ballast control system for a HID lamp, which can control illumination according to neighboring brightness and easily grasp operation and failure status of the lamp and a time to replace the lamp.
Accordingly, the present inventor has ardently tried to solve the problems of conventional techniques, and as a result, developed a control system for a HID lamp, which has a low-priced magnetic ballast for a HID lamp equipped with a plurality of condensers or choke coils of different capacities, an electronic switch unit for controlling illumination according to the change of capacities of the condensers or choke coils, and RF transmitting and receiving means that use a Zigbee-based frequency, and confirmed that the control system is capable of remotely controlling turning on and off and illumination of the HID lamp and easily confirming failure of the lamp and a time to replace the lamp, thereby completing the present invention.